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Thursday, August 16, 2012

Alternate Realities Roundup 8/17

A federal court recently decided that law enforcement tracking citizens via their cell phone is like tailing a suspect on the street, “which means authorities don’t need to get a warrant to find out where you are at any given time,” Mother Jones reports.---

“The US Government Can Track Your Location at Any Time Without a Warrant,”—Mother Jones.

Could President Obama’s advocacy on behalf of a Texas affirmative-action case hurt his re-election chances?—The Root.

Top of Alty Utah

Lawmakers got an update on the state autism-pilot program, which is still not receiving the funds it was promised in the 2012 session.—KCPW

As the head of the local Rocky Mountain Innocence Center leaves her position for a national office in Washington, D.C., the nonprofit faces an appeal from the Utah Attorney General’s Office on the landmark Debra Brown case.—Salt Lake City Weekly.

Salt Lake County Aging Services offers “care for the caregiver” with classes for those who take care of elderly family members at home.—KUER.

Friends of Animals Utah’s Purple Paws Project looks to help women and children get out of violent home situations by offering shelter services to family animals that may be threatened by abusers to keep spouses and family from leaving violent homes.—Salt Lake City Weekly.

Rantosphere:

State Department whistleblower Peter Van Buren recounts the financial waste of United States’ reconstruction of Iraq

“Failure, in fact, was the name of the game when it came to the American mission. Just tote up the score: the Iraqi government is moving ever closer to Iran; the U.S. occupation, which built 505 bases in the country with the thought that U.S. troops might remain garrisoned there for generations, ended without a single base in U.S. hands (none, nada); no gushers of cheap oil leapt USA-wards nor did profits from the above leap into the coffers of American oil companies; and there was a net loss of U.S. prestige and influence across the region. And that would just be the beginning of the list from hell.”—TomDispatch.com

The Long View

The North Bay Bohemian looks at how online classes and technology have made cheating in college classes more prevalent than ever.

“At this point, with the spread of information online, cheating is almost as traditional to the college experience as fall football games or your first kegger at Phi Sigma Kappa.‘Technology has restructured the way courses are taught,’ says "Austin," a former Santa Rosa Junior College student who will be going to Berkeley in the fall. Students no longer have to go to school to go to school. Online classes, exams and lectures make creating a schedule easier—and render cheating rampant.”—North Bay Bohemian